ROBBERS MURDER 2 IN REIGN OF TERROR

A pair of robbers shot a convenience store clerk to death near West Palm Beach early Friday, then gunned down another man who refused to give them his pickup truck for a getaway, authorities said.

Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies said they found one suspect hiding in a junkyard near Riviera Beach. Vernon D. Amos, 23, of Belle Glade, was charged with two counts of murder and booked into the Palm Beach County Jail.

The other suspect was still at large late Friday, but deputies were conducting a massive search in the Belle Glade area, where he was thought to be hiding.

The violence erupted about midnight at the Mister Grocer store at Military Trail and Gun Club Road.

Allen R. McAninch, 29, the clerk, was shot and killed by one robber as he lay face down on the floor behind the counter, according to a witness. Before leaving the store, the robbers also shot Terry Howard, 28. Howard, who lives west of West Palm Beach, was wounded in both arms.

Minutes later, one of the gunmen shot and killed a man leaving a topless bar about a mile north on Military Trail. Robert A. Bragman, 29, was gunned down as he prepared to leave the English Pub. He was killed after he refused to let the robbers commandeer his pickup truck, sheriff's spokesman Mike McNamee said.

For Howard, the nightmare began after he left his job at the West Palm Book and Video store in the 400 block of Military Trail.

"I stopped in to buy a beer and talk to Allen," Howard said from his bed at Doctors Hospital where he was listed in satisfactory condition. "These two black dudes came in. One had a gun and told us to lie on the floor."

Howard said he was lying face down in front of the counter and McAninch was lying behind the counter when he heard several gunshots.

"I thought they were just firing into the air trying to scare us," he said. "I didn't know until later that they shot Allen."

Howard said he was still on the floor when the robbers ordered him to open the cash register. He told them he didn't know how.

"It was quiet for a few seconds, then they hollered, 'Where's the keys?' I said, 'They're right here.' One of them ripped the keys off my belt and took my wallet out of my pocket. Then they shot me. I think they fired two or three times and shot me in both arms. I guess they were trying to kill me."

Howard said he waited a few seconds until the robbers were gone, then struggled to his feet and dialed 911. He said he did not think the cash register was ever opened.

"When I got up I didn't know Allen had been shot," he said. "Then I saw the blood."

Once outside, the robbers drove Howard's car north on Military Trail to Southern Boulevard, where they abandoned it, McNamee said. They continued on foot to the parking lot of the English Pub, a topless bar about a quarter of a mile north of Southern Boulevard, McNamee said.

There, they commandeered an older model Chevrolet Camaro and abducted the driver at gunpoint, McNamee said. But as the robbers and the victim drove south on Military Trail, another car chased them, McNamee said. The suspects then made a U-turn and drove back to the English Pub, where they climbed out of the Camaro.

Bragman, who lived on State Street west of Lake Worth, was leaving the bar when the robbers tried to commandeer his black Ford pickup truck, McNamee said. When Bragman resisted, one gunman shot him in the face, McNamee said.

Both men then fled on foot up Military Trail to the parking lot of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant at Belvedere Road. One pointed a gun at Allen Sedenka, who watched helpessly as the robbers sped off in his car north on Military Trail.

By then, sheriff's deputies were on the tail of the getaway car. At Dyer Boulevard, the suspects turned left, ditched Sedenka's car and fled on foot. Deputies sealed off the area and began a search with K-9 units and a helicopter.

A few minutes later, Amos was found hiding in a wrecked car at the A&M; Auto Parts yard and surrendered quietly. No weapons were recovered. McNamee said it was unclear whether Amos was suspected as the triggerman.

The Mister Grocer closed for only a few hours after McAninch's murder, and was open for business early Friday. Don Gorenberg, president of the Mister Grocer Corp., said McAninch, who lived on Sleepy Hollow Drive west of West Palm Beach, had been working at the store for only about a month.

Gorenberg said the murder was the second at a Mister Grocer store within the last month. A clerk at a Brevard County store was shot and killed in May, he said.

"We teach our employees to be cooperative with criminals and give them what they want," he said. "It's mind boggling that these people would go to such extremes."

Amos, whose past record includes convictions for burglary and possession of cocaine, is now charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and various counts of armed robbery and auto theft.